Big Woody's crowns lord of the wings

Justin "The Jester" Vernon, of Kunkletown, is the lord of the… (MICHAEL KUBEL, THE MORNING…)

February 04, 2013|By Matt Assad, Of The Morning Call

Forget the '70s Steelers and the '80s Forty-Niners. Justin "The Jester" Vernon has built himself a Super Bowl dynasty that can't be touched.

The 25-year-old Kunkletown man ate his way to his fifth consecutive Big Woody's Wing-Offs championship Sunday, inhaling 2.4 pounds of wing meat in five gluttonous minutes.

That makes him the Wing King, the Lord of the Wings and the Prince of Poultry Parts all wrapped into one.

And his secret?

"Just eat. Don't stop, don't look up and don't slow down," said Vernon, his face-painted red and black as a tribute to his favorite band, Insane Clown Posse. "Just use your technique and never stop."

Technique?

"Well, that's a secret I'll keep to myself," the jester said without a smile.

In its sixth year, the Wing-Offs has almost become a bigger Super Bowl spectacle at Big Woody's than the game. The five qualifying rounds and finals are routinely some of the pub's biggest days of the year. With the Bud Lite Girls and ESPN radio broadcasting live, Sunday's final drew more than 100 people, including many who left the 3 p.m. competition before kickoff.

This is not a competition for the faint of heart. Why else would each contestant have to sign a release holding Big Woody's harmless in the event they choke on a chicken bone or are hit with sudden artery clog?

"Never had anyone die while eating," said Matt Marcks, whose family owns the Big Woody's chain. "Had a guy lose a tooth once. Kept eating though. I think he made the finals."

Vernon may have beaten a dozen other finalists, but Stacey McCarthy of Allentown, made the biggest spectacle. With an American flag draped over his shoulders and two mini flags tucked behind his ears, McCarthy called himself an "eatertainer" and then broke into several arm exercises he said would help him shovel the wings into his mouth.

His 6-foot 2-inch, 240-pound frame is a long way from the days when he could run the 100 meters in 10.7 seconds for Dieruff High School in the mid-90s. Chicken wings, it turns out, are not a sprinter's dish.

"Hands are still quick, you wait and see," McCarthy said, strapping a webcam to his forehead to record the gorge fest.

McCarthy did not finish in the Top Five, but he got plenty of footage for the reality show he's pitching to MTV.

Not everyone had Vernon's intensity or McCarthy's flare, but Justin "Egg Roll" Tran, of Allentown, had his own rooting section and Will McKenna, of Stewartsville, well, he was just hungry.

"For me this started out as free food," McKenna said. "I have no shot of winning."

And he was right. Rounding out the Top Five were Adam Kopola of Bethlehem, second; Jack Diamond of Bainbridge and Glen Brong of Forks, tied for third; and Brian Isaaks of Allentown, fifth.

The whole thing may be just a game-day diversion, but this is serious business for Big Woody's. The winner gets $500 and, to avoid past complaints that some contestants were just nibbling the wing without eating the whole thing, a new method of judging has been devised. Rather than counting the wings, judges weighed the plate before and after the eating to come up with the exact measure of each eater's gluttony.

No word yet from the U.S. Olympic Committee on whether it can be made an Olympic event in time for 2014.